News Release Archive

EDUCATION/CULTURE--LOCAL PROJECTS RECEIVE MUSEUM RESEARCH GRANTS
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Five innovative community-based research projects will get under
way in Halifax Regional Municipality thanks to the Nova Scotia
Museum Endowment Fund. The funding totals almost $37,000 for
these and six other research projects made possible across the
province.
Helen Sheldon of Enfield will research a possible site of an
African Nova Scotian home in the Preston area. The research
involves archeological testing in an attempt to gather data on
black sites of the 19th century in Nova Scotia.
Working with the Black Cultural Centre, Sharain Jones will
research the genealogies of the black settlers of Nova Scotia in
the 18th and 19th centuries. The links between these settlers and
the Mi'kmaq will also be explored.
Paul Martell of Waverley will receive funding to catalogue the
Ross-Thomson Music Collection. The collection, now owned by
Dalhousie University, provides a cross-section of middle- and
upper-class musical taste in Nova Scotia between 1800 and 1900.
Mark Butler and Karen McAllister, based at the Ecology Action
Centre, will study deepsea corals off the shores of Nova Scotia.
This study is intended to enhance the knowledge of Nova Scotia
marine biodiversity and contribute to the sustainable management
of Nova Scotia's marine ecosystem.
Max Moseley of Halifax will research rare caverniculous
invertebrates, those animals without backbones living in Nova
Scotia caves.
Candace Stevenson, executive director of Nova Scotia Museum, said
this research is made possible through the generosity of the
people who donate money to the museum's endowment fund.
"As a result, the museum can carry out special activities -- in
this case, important research on a wide variety of Nova Scotia
topics that enable us to learn more about our past, present and
future. We are then able to build on what is already known and,
through the Nova Scotia Museum's 25 sites, share this valuable
and interesting information with all Nova Scotians."
Education and Culture Minister Robbie Harrison commended the
museum's board for making research projects a priority.
"For a relatively small investment, Nova Scotians are learning
more and more about important aspects of our natural and cultural
history and our way of life in communities across the province,"
Mr. Harrison said. "As one example, archeological research at a
Black Loyalist settlement in Birchtown, Shelburne Co., uncovered
information that will assist protection efforts of this important
heritage site."
The Nova Scotia Museum board of governors have approved more
projects this year than ever before in six different categories:
archeology, black history, Mi'kmaq history, music, paleontology
and rare species. Individual grants range from $2,000 to $4,000.
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Contact: Donna MacDonald
Education and Culture
902-424-2615
NOTE TO EDITORS: A complete list of the 11 research projects is
available by calling 902-424-4492.
trp May 28, 1997 - 1:30 p.m.